This invention pertains to a press apparatus, and, in particular, to a press apparatus for use in draining liquid from canned food products.
An assortment of different food products such as tuna are packaged into cans or containers along with liquids such as oil or water. When a consumer desires to use the packaged food product, the container is first opened, and then typically the packing liquid is poured or drained from the container prior to the removal of the packaged food products. Food products which have a tendency to absorb and retain the packing liquid complicate the liquid draining process. For example, in order to adequately drain the liquid in a can of tuna, excess liquid is initially poured out. Then, the opened or cut off can lid is typically pressed inward onto the tuna while the container is inverted, thereby squeezing out liquid in the tuna.
While removing liquids from some food products is rather a simple and speedy task when the container is small, removing liquids from food products packaged in larger containers is usually a far more labor intensive task. In the food service industry, canned food products are utilized in bulk and therefore frequently packaged in large cans. The size and weight of these containers, as well as the actual amount of liquid possibly retained within the contained food products, makes manual draining difficult.
For example, tuna used by restaurants in preparing such dishes as tuna salad often comes in packaged cans weighing several pounds or more. After excess liquid is first poured out from the opened can, the large quantities of liquid retained in the tuna meat must be squeezed out or the salad dressing used in making the salad may not adhere to the tuna. To drain the liquids in the past, manual squeezing techniques more appropriate for small serving size cans have been used. These techniques are undesirably labor intensive due to the significant quantities of retained liquid. Past makeshift attempts to partially mechanize the draining process included cutting off a can top end or lid, inverting the can with the lid inside and placing the lid on a raised object in the sink, and placing a heavy object or weight on the bottom can end which, due to the can inversion, faces upward. As the packaged liquid drained off, the can settled under the weight to further compress or squeeze the tuna and thereby further drain the tuna. However, the finite amount of weight capable of readily being lifted by food service employees and then carefully balanced on the can results in relatively long times for the liquid to drain in this manner. Thus, it is desirable to provide an apparatus which better mechanizes squeezing operations to remove liquid from food product containers to reduce the labor required for such operations.